Rev. Adam Hamilton, Founding Pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, Selected to Deliver Sermon at National Prayer Service

Rev. Adam Hamilton, Founding Pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, Selected to Deliver Sermon at National Prayer Service

WASHINGTON, DC – The Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) announced today that Rev. Adam Hamilton of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection has been selected to deliver the sermon at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday, January 22. The National Prayer Service will be held at Washington National Cathedral at the conclusion of Inaugural activities and will celebrate America’s diversity of faith.

“The National Prayer Service is an important tradition in the United States,” said Rev. Hamilton. “I am honored and humbled to have been asked to deliver the message for this service as President Obama and Vice President Biden begin their second term.”

A recognized community and spiritual leader, Adam Hamilton is the founding pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, which he launched with his wife and two children in 1990. The congregation has since grown to over 18,000 under his leadership and is the largest United Methodist Church in the United States. Hamilton holds a Master of Divinity Degree from Southern Methodist University, where he was awarded the B’nai B’rith Award in Social Ethics. Hamilton was named one of “Ten people to watch in America’s spiritual landscape” by Religion and Ethics Newsweekly and United Methodist Person of the Year for 2012 by the United Methodist Reporter for his leadership within the United Methodist Church. He has written and published 15 books and been the recipient of numerous community service awards.

“We are so blessed to be joined by leaders of many faiths for this prayer service to lift up our nation and our president,” said the Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of Washington National Cathedral. “To have represented the diverse faith perspectives of America within the Cathedral’s nave is a sign of the distinct role that people of faith have to play in our national discourse and policy decisions.”

“The tradition of the National Prayer Service honors the values and diversity that make America strong, and we are privileged to have Reverend Hamilton’s voice joining this celebration of the role of people of faith during the 57th Inauguration,” said Steve Kerrigan, CEO of the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

A tradition dating back to President George Washington, the National Prayer Service will include prayers, readings, blessings and hymns delivered by religious leaders from across the United States. The Cathedral has been the site of inaugural prayer services since Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first inauguration in 1933. The Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of Washington National Cathedral, and the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, will participate along with the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori.

Attendance for the National Prayer Service is by invitation only and tickets are required. The service will also be webcast live at www.nationalcathedral.org. For the latest updates on the 2013 Presidential Inauguration please visit www.2013pic.org.